FS#1323 - Improve command line support in QCAD

As a typical command line draftsman (still using acad10 for dos, since microsoft doesn’t supoort Win NT anymore),I noticed a severe lack on command line acces in QCAD.

For example I find the icon and pixel selecting methods within qcad very confusing and rude.

With the normal cad Select command I can select exactly what en how I want it.

I intend not to be rude, but I find my drawing screen littered all over with all kind of very specialist menu’s,tools and options. Sorry, I just want to make a drawing at the natural intuitive way, as with a pencil.So I use command line Commands, such as Move, Copy, Change, Select, a.s.o.For a ‘Command scripting’ user (-batching is a different tool!-),it seems to me logical these basic commands should be accessable.

As a command line draftsman I use the command line, and the command line commands.Whenever a command doesn't respond the way it should do, then it's a bug.

Commands available via the menu or GUI, but not available via the command line, are bugs.

Don't get me wrong, QCAD is the best Open Source cad-program I have found.However, to my experience, how much fun programming might be, the base of CAD is CAD and it's commands.No offense, but AutoCAD R10 DOS (1988!) is still more advanced, and it shouldn't be.If Ribbonsoft wants to get acad-users to use QCAD (and QCAD has that potential!),then QCAD's base should be at least compatible, and of high enough technical draftsmans level.

There's probably a fundamental misunderstanding here.QCAD was deliberately and from the very beginning designed to be NOT as intimidating and complex or complete as Autocad and that is indeed its main strength and most often mentioned advantage over other CAD systems.For Autocad users, there are plenty of Autocad clones available, even free ones (Draftsight is just one of them).

If you are used to Autocad, there is absolutely no reason not to use Autocad or a clone. Autocad is by far the most advanced CAD system available and quite possibly one of the most advanced softwares ever made, developed in many thousands of man years by hundreds of developers.QCAD has found its niche at the other end of the spectrum: as a simple and small CAD tool 'for the rest of us', designed and developed in less than 10 man years almost exclusively by one single developer. Any comparison is futile :)

If Ribbonsoft wants to get acad-users to use QCAD

Right there is the misunderstanding. This is most definitely not the goal, and has never been the goal. QCAD is for laymen, for students, for beginners of 2D CAD, for users who don't use CAD every day, for home users who need to create a drawing to get their garden shed approved, for companies who need ordinary staff without any CAD training or background to deal with and produce simple CAD drawings.

Having said all of that, nothing stands in the way of anyone to make the command line more complete or advanced.However, so far the command line has been deliberately kept simple and most importantly optional. Many QCAD users never use or even display the command line - and this is good so and certainly not a bug but a conscious design decision.

Judging by your feedback, I strongly suspect that QCAD might not be the best solution for you. Did you check out DraftSight? This might be much closer to your expectations.